


Little Dark Age

by elf_trash



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Lots of Angst, Slight Canon Divergence, Temperance Ending, might be the start of something longer who knows, so far just angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29937108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elf_trash/pseuds/elf_trash
Summary: What if, post-Temperance ending, Johnny did go tell V's friends and lovers what happened in Mikoshi instead of hiding from them?
Relationships: Johnny Silverhand/V, V/River Ward
Comments: 5
Kudos: 35





	Little Dark Age

**Author's Note:**

> In this fic, V and River were in an established relationship and moved into the penthouse BEFORE Nocturne OP55N1. Obviously, this fic includes ending spoilers.

He hesitates before stepping on the bus, then turns to Steve. V’s phone weighs in his pocket like a rock, the unanswered calls and texts winding their tendrils around him like so many clamoring ghosts.  _ They loved her too,  _ he reminds himself.  _ They deserve to know what happened. _

But the shame burns in his throat, and he almost loses his nerve again. It would be so much easier to just run away, to never face the shame of having to look V’s friends in the eye, and tell them that she's gone, that the talking corpse they see in front of them isn’t their friend, their lover, their confidante, but Johnny Fucking Silverhand. And V's become just another casualty of his unending violent anti-corpo crusade.

But he knows that isn’t true. He tried to stop her. He tried to-

He pulls himself up short, forcing himself to stop this line of thinking. There’s no time for this now.

He turns to Steve.

“One more stop, pal. You up for it?’

The boy’s face brightens. Of course, he’ll do anything to spend more time with a woman he sees as a cool older sister… and, Johnny admits begrudgingly, a woman he's developed a huge crush on. And who could blame the kid? Johnny scowls down at his hands for the hundredth time that day. V’s hands. Her soft, delicate right hand, and her black and chrome left one. And right there on the forearm… Johnny + V. He winces. Another reminder. It’s just Johnny now.

“Where to?”

“Little China,” Johnny says, sliding back into the passenger seat and drumming his fingers nervously against the window ledge.

Steve nods and starts the car, and they begin the series of switchbacks down into Japantown, before crossing the bridge to Watson. The sun is setting as Johnny surveys the familiar cityscape. Black Dog comes on the radio.  _ What is it with this song today? _ He scowls again, reaching over to flip the dial to something else, anything else. Us Cracks’ latest wall of noise floods the small car, momentarily drowning out Johnny's misery. V loved this shit.

“I thought you loved Silverhand?” Steve protests.

“Not in the mood,” Johnny mutters, letting his hand drift out the window again and feeling the wind rush between V’s long fingers.

As they pull up to the familiar landing outside V's house, Johnny’s stomach clenches when he sees River’s truck parked between his Porsche and V’s old motorcycle. Right where she’d left them.

“Call you when I’m done,” he says to Steve, opening the passenger door.

“Uh… want me to stay in the area?” The boy glances around nervously. He doesn’t know Watson, Johnny realizes.

“Dunno know how long I’ll be, so if you gotta head home, I get it.”

Steve nods silently.

“Hey uh… there’s a cool little shop nearby you can go check out while you wait. Misty’s Esoterica. Real rad chick. She’ll read your tarot, tell you about cool shit. It’s just down the street,” he says, flicking over the address.

Steve looks skeptical, but nods slowly. “Sure,” he says. “See ya in a bit.”

Johnny steps out of the car and approaches the elevator. He still has the keys, of course. Unless River changed the locks. But knowing River, he wouldn’t have done that. Not if he thought there was any chance V would come home.

_ And here she is,  _ Johnny thinks bitterly.  _ What’s left of her, anyway. _

He steps into the elevator and presses the button for the penthouse.

The doors slide open, and Johnny steps out into what used to be their kitchen. His and V’s. He can hear a radio playing from somewhere, and there’s cigarette smoke drifting in through the open patio door.

It's all so familiar, and he once again feels that old twisting inside of his chest.

And there’s River, standing open-mouthed in the doorway, looking at Johnny like he’s just seen a ghost.

“River, I--” Johnny begins, but before he can say anything else, the 6’5” ex-cop crosses the floor in three quick steps and scoops Johnny into his arms before the rockerboy can react.  _ It’s exactly the kind of welcome V woulda wanted,  _ he thinks, as the guilt threatens to overwhelm him.  _ No wonder she liked this gonk. _

“V,” River breathes into the hair that, to him, probably still smells like V. “You made it.”

Johnny tenses, every fiber of his being screaming out in shame, grief, and agony. He tries to pull away.

“River, I-- I’m sorry…. I’m not--”

River freezes, and Johnny uses this opportunity to step back. River’s arms drop limply to his sides, as his blue eye searches Johnny’s for some trace of V, not wanting to comprehend.

“I’m not…. I’m not V,” Johnny finally manages, watching the slow horror of realization spread across River’s handsome face, followed almost instantaneously by what Johnny has been bracing himself for: rage.

“You-- you  _ took _ her  _ BODY? _ ” River roars, taking a step towards him, fists clenched. “You  _ betrayed _ her?”

Johnny stands his ground, betting on the fact that River won’t be able to bring himself to harm V’s body, even if she’s no longer the pilot. His bet pays off, and River slams his fist into a concrete pillar.

“I tried to stop her, River," Johnny says, his voice solemn. “I fucking _ tried _ , but she…” He falters. “She went with Alt. Into Cyberspace.”

“What the fuck do you mean?”

“She made me take her body, River.”

River’s breathing is ragged, his face still not comprehending. He turns and drives his fist into the wall again.

“ _ Why? _ ” he growls. “Why the  _ fuck  _ would she do that? You expect me to believe she just LET you take-” His voice breaks.

“She woulda died in 6 months.”

“Bullshit.”

“That’s what I said,” Johnny continues, steadying himself against the counter. “But Alt was sure. Some shit about the biochip making her mind incompatible with her body. I’m not gonna pretend to understand it. But… guess this body would have rejected her, and she’d have died a slow, ugly death. Whereas me… I get a lifetime. A lifetime that should have been hers.”

River is still staring at him, so Johnny continues.

“Still told her that the time she had left was hers to take, that there could still be a chance, that she had to take it and not give up hope. That I was already fucking dead. But I couldn’t stop her. She-” Now it’s his voice’s turn to break.

“Fuck you, man,” River says. “What the fuck do you want? Me to tell you it’s all okay?” He shakes his head. “Coming over here, making me see her like this… making me think… Fuck." He pinches the bridge of his nose, then looks back up at Johnny. "It’s like talking to a fucking corpse.”

“Fucking tell me about it,” Johnny almost shouts. “How do you think  _ I _ feel, waking up every day in her fucking body? Alone in her head? Seeing her reflection everywhere I go, seeing her body every time I fucking look down, but she’s fucking  _ gone. _ And I…” his voice catches, and he doesn’t finish the thought.

River is looking at him more sympathetically now, their faces reflecting the same shared grief.

“She gave it all up to give me a second chance,” Johnny continues. “And you’re right, how the  _ fuck _ was I supposed to come back here? Tell you what she did? Show my face anywhere?” He sighs, running his hand through V’s thick, choppy hair. “But I... I know you loved her. And she loved you.” He forces himself to meet River’s eye. “And she wouldn’t have wanted me to let you keep wondering, holding out hope.”

River is silent for a while. “Fuck,” is all he says.

Johnny watches him silently.

“Cyberspace?” River asks softly.

“Beyond the Blackwall.” Johnny runs his hand through V’s hair again, then wills himself to stop fidgeting. “She joined with Alt and the other freed souls from Mikoshi to become ‘part of something greater.’” He is unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice when he says the last part.

“So, she’s still out there? Like Alt?” River asks, and the sudden gleam of hope in his eyes makes Johnny’s gut twist once more.

“Yeah, like Alt,” Johnny says. “But don’t get too excited. Alt isn’t… what she was. And I doubt V will be, either.”

“But some part of her is still alive,” River protests.

“You could say that.”

River stares out the window at the dusk settling like a blanket over the city.

“Musta really loved you,” River continues, his gaze inscrutable. “To give up everything for you like that.”

“More than I deserved,” Johnny agrees.

They stand silently for a moment, and Johnny feels River’s rage settle around them into something duller, like fog in a swamp. He glances at the man’s face and is surprised to see something new there, in his set jaw and furrowed brow. Determination. Johnny swallows.

“Okay. So, what’s our plan?”

Johnny blinks at him.

“Our plan,” River repeats, this time through gritted teeth. “I know you didn’t just come here as some sentimental parting gesture. Not really your style.”

Johnny thumbs the bus ticket in his pocket. “You don’t know what the fuck--” he begins, but River holds up a hand.

“Maybe you told yourself… I don’t know what you told yourself,” River continues. “But if I know anything about you, it’s that you don’t just… let stuff go. V told me you raided Arasaka tower not once, but  _ twice _ to rescue your ex-output. Even after she was an AI.” He shakes his head, then looks back at Johnny. “If there’s anything left of V, you’re not gonna just walk away from that.  _ I’m _ not gonna just walk away from that. And  _ that’s _ why you’re here.”

Johnny is silent. He’s spent these last few weeks telling himself he was trying to let V go, that he  _ needed _ to let V go, but he knows that’s a lie. River’s right -- he’s not one to take things lying down. He’s one to go down kicking and take the whole city with him before he’ll let Ara- _ fucking _ -saka take someone else he loves and turn them into a pile of code.

River turns back to the window, that look of determination still hardening his features. “When V didn’t come back from Mikoshi, I didn’t just sit here and wait around to see when she’d turn up,” he says. “I hit up all her contacts, tried to find out everything I could about the Relic, and about mind-transfer technology in general.”

He suddenly turns back to Johnny.

“What can you tell me about Morgan Blackhand?”


End file.
